Managing your HELP loan
How to check your HELP loan
You can check how much you owe on your HELP loan using the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) online services, through myGov.
Follow these steps to check your balance:
- Sign in to myGov and select Australian Taxation Office.
- Select Tax, then Accounts, then Loan accounts.
- From here you will see any government loans you have and the balance.
If you don’t have the ATO linked, find out how to link the ATO to your myGov account.
How to pay back your HELP loan
When you get a job and earn over a certain amount, you begin to pay back your HELP loan. This is through the tax system with compulsory repayments.
You need to tell your employer you have a HELP loan. This is so they can withhold amounts from your wage to help you pay back your HELP loan at tax time.
If you don’t pay your HELP loan, you may be fined.
Find out more about paying back your loan on the ATO website. These links will take you away from myGov.
What loan indexation is
Your HELP loan gets reduced when you make repayments.
Your loan amount could also change as indexation is applied on 1 June each year.
Indexation is when your loan amount gets adjusted in line with changes in the cost of living.
You can use the HELP Indexation Credit Estimator to understand the HELP indexation credit amount for 2023 and 2024 on the Department of Education website.
Find the latest study and training loan indexation rates on the ATO website.